She casually broached the subject over lunch with a reporter, declining a glass of wine because she was breastfeeding. “I have a lovely little girl so I feel like I haven’t slept … but it’s also just really lovely and strange,” she said, confirming the news after the writer asked if it was a scoop.

The author said she kept the news even from some family and friends. “I just feel like we live in an age when women are supposed to perform pregnancy,” she said. “We don’t expect fathers to perform fatherhood.” She said she “went into hiding” for the duration of pregnancy to make sure the experience was as personal as possible.

When asked about the baby’s name, Adichie said simply, “No, I won’t say.”

Adichie has been making headlines recently for her Trump family “fan fiction,” featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review. When asked about politics by the Fnancial Times, Adichie, who frequently visits the United States, said that she “adored” Obama and described Bernie Sanders as “your dishevelled, likeable uncle.”